A Scrum Masters journey through Agile and SCRUM

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Holy Learning Batman!

So this week was a BIG learning week for me. It all ended well but, dang! it wasn’t easy. When people are looking to you to KNOW it’s nice and all but, I hadn’t really prepared myself for what that really meant. Let’s just say I know what that means now and I’m glad I learned this lesson.

I know from my own experience that trust isn’t automatic. I don’t care what your title is, you still have to earn trust and credibility. The lesson was about how to do this. For this particular situation it was my ability to communicate my thought process and how I reached the conclusions I had reached. This is not easy for me. I don’t think in the most organized way to begin with and my thoughts race down so many different paths, correcting as I go it’s not simple to explain nor would it really generate confidence in the person I’m speaking to IF I was even able to explain it. (Well, hello there run on sentence!) The thing is, that’s not OK when you’re working with someone who is looking to you and trusting you to guide them. I mean, why would any rational person blindly trust someone just because of what they were called? I wouldn’t and I don’t.

Interestingly enough, I found that my Project Manager hat came in very handy. I put it on and thought through what was necessary in order to lay out the vision or direction that would convey my understanding of the situation and reflect what I had learned about the organization and the things the client valued. Two and a half hours later, I had it. The whole thing in my head laid out in a logical, simple, elegant way that resonated with the client and brought both of us back to a happy place.

What I’m going to do now, is lay it ALL out. Now. Ahead of time. I want to have it all there, captured, in a way that’s easy to understand and simple to explain. This is going to take a little while….